Here in the UK, Facebook had been blocked by some companies to stop employees accessing it from their intranet systems during worktime. The situation has got that bad that 1000's of working hours are being lost by folks logging onto Facebook to see what their friends are doing or to take part in a quiz etc etc.

I have a Facebook page, (my niece persuaded me to do it). But, apart from finding a load of Cre8asite folks there, (after I downloaded my email address into the Facebook system to see who matched), I actually find it a bit of chore to go there etc etc. I'm sure it's a great business social networking tool, and for the average punter, (who has no other internet activities to occupy their online time), I'm sure it's a great bundle of fun.

Is anyone here a Facebook addict? Do you log onto it whilst at work, and/or has your workplace banned the access to Facebook?

Not me. I wander by every once in a while, but otherwise don't pay much attention.

Is it addictive? For people who don't particularly care for their jobs; who are primarily focused on their social lives - probably. Facebook (like much of the internet) makes it very easy to blow off things you don't really want to do in favor of socializing.

I don't think the problem is Facebook. The problem is in employee motivation.

For me it's a fun way to stay in touch with friends or get to know them better, since most of them are far away.

I think companies are missing the boat. If their employees were doing work they loved and their work environments made conducive for work, people would have less need to find an outlet for their extreme boredom or unhappiness.

Banning the Internet from employees is a company's way of not addressing their real issues.

ANY web site that interferes with family time, work time, etc. has to be dealt with by communication, understanding what need it is fulfilling and working out constructive ways to live with it.

My kids would love to "ban" these forums from me because of the time they take away from them.

(Just to offer a little perspective.)

We're responsible for having control over our Internet usage, but of course, that would require the ability to have self control and self discipline in the first place. :hmmmm:

I love it I try and keep off it at work, but tend to login at lunch or so to see what's going on.

I have a few groups of friends on there, people from these forums and it's surrounds, people I play cricket with, people I used to work with (it went round like wildfire at my last company), some old school mates, my girlfriend and a couple of her friends I've gotten to know, and some other random individuals I've met along the way.

So yeah, there's somethign to keep up with, so to speak.
I find a lot of the pictures pretty cool, people posting those from nights out, or trips away, tagging others, can be quite amusing

I do find it's one of the sites that I usually check, it's becoming like email, or even more important than that. I don't get much email from actual people, I find it a poor medium for that these days, so I find it a good way to keep upto date with what people are doing, a birthday reminder service (something I really need ), and it's all relatively non-intrusive. Apart from all the app requests

I hate FB. I really do. I just use it to keep in touch with friends. I have a gazillion app invites waiting for me that I couldn't care less to join. Sorry, but befriending someone's cat or sharing recipes or becoming a zombie are all really not my thing.

On the other hand, as a way to keep in occasional touch with friends, it's great. The best out there for this purpose.

Facebook addicts are costing firms at least £132 million every day in lost productivity. A major study into how British workers use the internet found that 233 million hours of working time is spent on the site each month.

The Facebook apps really aren't my thing. The only apps I'm interested in are LOLcats (yes, sorry, I had to), Digg, and statistics applications (since I have in excess of 800 friends that have accumulated over 3+ years). Naturally, the stat apps don't even work because I have so many friends, but it's interesting to see how people are building applications to show the relationships between friends.

The apps are something that needs sorting out. I've added loads, and removed loads again as well. Some are kind of nice and fun, others get irritating. They need an option to permanently ignore an app, to stop getting requests all the time.

It's a good idea in some respects, but they need to tighten up how they are used. Become a victim of their own success already, release an apps to that many millions of users, see it spread VERY quickly, and you've got a really popular app inside a few days.

I hate FB. I really do. I just use it to keep in touch with friends. I have a gazillion app invites waiting for me that I couldn't care less to join. Sorry, but befriending someone's cat or sharing recipes or becoming a zombie are all really not my thing.

I'm exactly the same as pierre... I joined, and got bored by the next day... Its good for reading what old freinds are up to, and looking at their photos... Thats as far as it goes for me.

I have three different accounts on Facebook just to manage my different friends lists. In total I admin about six groups, and am a member of dozens more.

On the bright side, almost one third of my time on Facebook is for non-personal community service, like raising awareness of important issues in my community, sending invitations to charity events, or helping promote fundraisers for positive causes.

On the dark side, I have probably spent hundreds of hours tagging people in photos, sending messages back and forth every thirty seconds, making graffiti on people's profiles, and ignoring pokes. And I am on Facebook more often than I am on Cre8asite. How shameful.

I agree, some of the apps are nothing more than an adult version of school yard popularity contests which I thought most people would grow out of including me. Still I use the zombie app and join in with my other mates that are using it, perhaps its a bit childish but it helps brighten up my day....

My wife however refuses to go anywhere near Facebook though I enjoy using it and I have managed to catch up with friends I had lost touch with - some as long ago as 11 years ago so its been a bonus to me.

Okay, okay - I've gotten a bit more addicted to it. I found an application called Springcaster - where you can upload/make videos, and post them on your Facebook profile - very nice

Generally, I'd have to admit I'd agree with all the plus and minus points about Facebook mentioned here. It is a growing phenomena. Even just recently it was announced that a limited profile - name and picture, I thnk - are now being made searchable from search engines....

I've not even signed up. I refuse to get involved in that sort of social networking - enough people pester me via e-mail as it is, I don't want to extend the medium by which they can find/hassle me.

I know the guys in the office next door use it though.. I frequently go through and see them all quickly minimising the windows. Silly if you ask me, because even if I hadn't seen it on their screen I'd know if they've been on it because of the router logs. (Not that I care enough to look - I've got my own little Internet hidey-holes to play with!)

I'm getting more addicted by the day! I keep adding more and more Apps, too, since my friends keep notifying me about the ones they add. I try to weed out most of them so that my page isn't too cluttered, but I just added a Movies App which compares my movie tastes to my friends who also have the app... Too cool!

I asked my IT boss, (during my PC/Internet/Intranet induction in the new company I started with yesterday), if Facebook was blocked by the Webmarshall software they used. He said - not yet - but they were getting a bit concerned over some Facebook ......er..... "usage" time

The proliferation of 'must join' SM sites makes me worry about people's health. Nearly everyone on this forum already uses the computer most of the day for work...be that 5 hours or 10, or 16. While I can certainly see how business-oriented sites used during business hours are important, the fact that each new SM site that appears is cutting away yet more time from the user's off-line hours concerns me.

Facebook, MySpace, etc. cannot replicate the rest on your eye muscles, the experience of having tea with a friend, or the absolute necessity of outdoor activities, exercise and fresh air.

Don't get me wrong...I love my computer and its ability to connect me to others. But I won't let that cut into what I love most: activities that happen in the real world.

You're right Miriam, Facebook shouldn't be a substitute for any of those things you mentioned or cut into your real/family/work time.

But I'm glad it's there since I use it as a 10 minute water cooler break in the middle of my workday. It's fun for me to pop in there and catch up on what's going on, see who's rubbing it in about being on vacation or check out sites/books being talked about.

And I really like the birthday notifications, I like getting birthday greetings and giving them.

I think the hardest part of working online is shutting down. Facebook makes that a little harder because when you click away, you leave your friends behind!